


Smaller God

by KisekiMa



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Cloud Will Be Fine, Insane and Amnesiac Sephiroth, Insanity, M/M, Malkavian (Vampire: The Masquerade), Medical Experimentation, Mental Instability, No Child Abuse Involved, Rating May Change, Science Experiments, Vampire Bites, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28158333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KisekiMa/pseuds/KisekiMa
Summary: Nine-year-old Cloud is dying after his attempt to save Tifa from the fall. A mysterious silver-haired stranger offers him salvation... but at what cost, exactly?Vampire AU.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Comments: 9
Kudos: 55





	1. The Wolf Cub

_And I, I could have died last night  
But I heard the voice of a smaller god_

_/_ Darling Violetta _– A Smaller God/_

Cloud should have been already dead.

He knew it, as much as a child his age can actually understand the concept of death. He couldn’t move, barely breathed and it felt so cold… Colder than any winter night in his short life.

Tifa was next to him, unconscious but breathing steadily. She seemed more alive than Cloud. Not pierced through the lungs by parts of broken bridge, at the very least.

“I see… The little goat was jumping too high. And now its legs are broken, its neck is broken, and there’s so much delicious blood around…”

Cloud shivered involuntarily at the sound of deep, masculine voice. He couldn’t hear the footsteps or feel anyone’s presence, but someone clearly was there, observing the boy with gleaming green eyes.

 _Silver. His hair is silver_ – was everything Cloud could think about under this petrifying gaze. _So long and beautiful_.

Not waiting for an answer, the creature leaned above him, covering the sky, moon and stars with its huge body.

The boy could feel a hot breath on his neck and realized that the silver stranger is going to steal something really precious from him. To show his protest, Cloud raised his small hand and pressed it to the man’s unnaturally cold cheek.

The entire world stopped for a moment, in silence so deep that Tifa’s quiet moan echoed in Cloud’s ears like a scream.

The man trembled, as if he wasn’t used to being touched, then changed his position and looked the kid in the eye, searching for… something.

“Oh? So you’re not a little goat but a wolf cub?” He smiled, but a thin line of blood – Cloud’s blood - on his lips made this expression more scary than joyful. The boy didn’t care, he could barely see anything but the curtain of the stranger’s shimmering hair. “But wolves wander the night, sometimes in packs, sometimes alone, feared and hunted by everyone. Are you ready to become a wolf, mortal child?”

Cloud did not understand a thing from this strange babbling. He just wanted to go home, to mother…

“Ah, Mother…” The man somehow sounded sad and ecstatic at the same moment. It was weird, frightening even. “We shouldn’t wake Her up yet. When the time is right, Mother will drink from six veins and rise, so tall and strong she will cover the sun. The veins are thin and fragile, and brainless, so She can’t drink yet. But you can, little wolf. Drink.”

The boy swallowed painfully, not sure if he understood correctly. The stranger wounded his own wrist with a quick movement of a nail, and offered the crimson liquid to the boy.

Something touched Cloud’s mind, like a caress of a friendly hand, making him forget about all his fears and doubts. He pressed his lips to the man’s wound and started drinking.

It was sweet and warm. Cloud greedily devoured the blood, sure that he’d never had anything this delicious before.

“You have the stars in your eyes now. Such a beautiful sight…” The stranger smiled to him, so gently it seemed impossible. No one ever looked at Cloud like that, except his mother. “You’re mine now, and we are inseparable, even though you’re going to forget everything. Now sleep. Because my mind is not here anymore, and my body should follow.”

It was an order, an absolute command Cloud could not resist. Even if every single cell in his body wanted to follow the man, his eyes closed obediently against the boy’s will.

But he already knew he won’t forget, never! The silver stranger was his savior, his personal angel.

No, something more than that. Like a god, but… smaller.

* * *

From the VtM: Bloodlines Wiki: “Malkavians carry the curse of madness, each childe gaining a degree of insanity after their Embrace. (…) Their blood can also pass this madness onto their Ghouls, twisting their mind and personality from the moment they ingest it."

* * *


	2. Toy Soldier

Zack Fair hated this part of his job.

He was walking through the still sleeping forest, not even trying to be quiet. His target could already sense him from miles away, maybe even hear his breath in the cold, almost morning air.

It was the perfect moment for a vampire hunt, Zack thought. At the edge of dawn most bloodsuckers become sluggish and think only of finding a safe hideout. Zack, being a thin blood, wasn’t affected by such dispersed, dim sunlight, and could normally walk through the forest even during a day.

His target, so ridiculously powerful, could probably do the same, if not more… But no one really dared to test it. Damaging such ‘precious specimen’ would be a waste, right?

Zack gritted his teeth, thinking how unacceptable this term sounded. Sephiroth was their Prince – a vampire so strong and ancient that even Aerith, old and powerful herself, admitted she sometimes felt the urge to kneel before their silver-haired elder. To treat someone like him like a mere experiment… Zack had no words for such insult.

“Hey, Sephiroth! Let’s go back to the mansion, okay? They’re searching for you everywhere.”

The Prince was standing between the trees, like a silver statue, and observed the first signs of the dawn on the distant horizon. He didn’t react to Zack’s presence in any way.

The two remained like this for a while, perfectly still, letting the wind play with their hair and clothes.

“My little wolf must learn to howl,” Sephiroth said all of a sudden. “Will you help him?”

“I would, if I only knew what you’re talking about.” Zack sighed, strangely sure that he will know… eventually. In three months or so, that was his usual time to discover the true meaning of the elder’s blabbering.

Sephiroth only smiled, with that distant, gentle expression that made him look irresistible. Professor Hojo explained to Zack that this is just a hunting technique to attract human victims, a trait of specialized predators, which made feeding way easier. But the young thin blood knew – or rather felt, like other vampires - better than that: Sephiroth was special. During one of his countless awakenings he had reached the point of becoming a new, unknown entity, probably not even aware of his own powers.

Predicting the future was clearly one of them. Zack had been reminded about that, when Sephiroth spoke up again:

“It is time, Toy Soldier. Me, who will come next, will need a friend like you.”

Zack exhaled slowly. Sephiroth had given him many names so far, but never before called him a friend. The saddest part was that he’s not going to remember this anyway. But still...

“You’re not making it easier,” the young thin blood said, almost tearfully, raising his sword with suddenly shaking hands.

_Swoosh._

It was a clean cut. Sephiroth’s head flew away from the body, pulling behind a cascade of silver hair and blood. Zack caught this unwanted trophy before it hit the ground and gently put it in a black bag, covering the pale skin from the sun. He felt drained, tired and really wanted to see Aerith again.

Sighing, the hunter reached for his PHS.

“Mission accomplished,” he said, sending his current location to the recovery team. “You may collect the body.”

 _“We’re coming,”_ replied Tseng, one of the Turks sent here to watch over Sephiroth. _“Stay right where you are, the helicopter will be there in a few minutes.”_

“Heli… what?” Zack raised an eyebrow, surprised. That was strange, with the body properly secured, transporting it back to the Shinra mansion shouldn’t be a problem. “Why we’re in such hurry, huh? Nibelheim is not that far…”

_“We’re not going to Nibelheim. Professor wants Sephiroth back in Midgar.”_

Zack blinked several times, not believing his own luck. After all those months in the mountains, he was finally coming back.

“Woo-hoo! I’m coming home, Aerith!”

* * *

From Vtm Bloodlines Wiki: Thin bloods “are less affected by sunlight, both physically and psychologically; they find it easier to wake during the day, and may survive exposure to dim sunlight unharmed. (…) Their bodies display some signs of true life; sometimes their hair or nails will grow, or they will feel the beat of their heart.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> I blame “Cyberpunk 2077” for reminding me about one of my favorite RPG games ever – “Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines” – and about this draft buried in one of my old folders. Basically, Sephiroth is a crazy Malkavian vampire, and Cloud is his ghoul from now on. Before You ask, he will grow up normally, because Sephiroth will forget about him for some reason… which would be explained in the next chapter.  
> And, as always, I own nothing but my terrible writing.


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